Some questions: 1. What about non-application case? KDE plasmoid, and some kcm worked as a plugin in system setttings, some of them also present a desktop, which doesn't theoratically an application, but I think should be able to install from app center.
2. What if an application doesn't actually have an window, or a big enough window can be put in screenshot? Like a minimal media player stay in tray. On Saturday, November 02, 2013 09:27:18 AM John Layt wrote: > Hi, > > I've been asked by Richard Hughes from Gnome and Fedora to raise the > profile of using AppData metadata within KDE. I know very little > about this area myself, but thought it was worthwhile raising on the > list for discussion. If you have any questions about AppData then > Richard would be happy to answer them, so please cc him on replies. > > The AppData justification, file format and tools are documented at > [1]. AppData and AppStream are slowly being adopted by various > distros for use in their software installers and app stores. The > AppData metadata file supplements the .desktop file by having a long > description of an app, links to some screenshots, and the app home > page, which get dispalyed in the app installer. The description can > also be localized. While distro's could generate and maintain this > data for themselves, to do so would be very time consuming for them, > may not present the app in the best way possible, and would quickly > get outdated. It makes a lot of sense for apps to create and maintain > this metadata for themselves, presenting themselves in the best way > possible, which all the distros can then reuse in their installer > applications. > > As far as I'm aware, AppData and/or AppStream is either used or > scheduled to be used by default in Gnome Software Centre, Apper, > Fedora, and OpenSuse, and optionally in several other distros, so is > not a distro specific intiative. I think there's even OBS integration > happening. If anyone knows more or thinks differently please let us > know. > > Some recent developments make this a fairly high priority for apps > that wish to target a cross-desktop audience. The new Gnome Software > Centre in Gnome 3.12 which uses AppData will become the default > installer in Fedora 20 for Gnome (Fedora KDE will use Apper). > Currently apps that don't provide AppData are ranked lower in search > results in Gnome Software, but from Gnome 3.14 such apps will not be > listed at all [2]. This means that without an AppData file KDE apps > will eventually not be visible to Gnome users in their default app > installer. Currently Gnome has 50% of apps covered and is > coordinating an effort for full coverage [3], but KDE has only 1%. > > Obviously individual apps are free to add these files [4], but from a > KDE-wide perspective we need to discuss if we want to officially adopt > this as a requirement, and if we want to provide a more coordinated > and standardized solution. What do people think? > > If we do adopt it, the two obvious issues to me are localization and > screenshots. Ideally scripty would be hooked up to generate the > translation files, but as they are an XML format it may need a bit of > work. Scripty would also need the AppData file to be in a standard > location in each repo. The screenshots need to be hosted by the app > (at least initially, Fedora copy the screenshots to their own server > later to save load), so we may want to have somewhere common on the > KDE infrastructure for that. I'd also suggest defining a file naming > standard including the app name and version number in the screenshot > name. > > Taking a slight step-back, I wonder if there is a need for a more > generic KDE metadata file in each KDE repo that describes even more > useful info, like module, maintainer, reviewboard, bugzilla, last > stable release number, frameworks tier, forums, irc channel, userbase, > mailing list, etc, that AppData and projects.xml and inqlude and any > other required metadata files could all be automatically generated > from? > > One obvious question is how this might relate to Bodega if KDE chooses > to switch to that? What does Gnome shipping their own official "App > Store" mean for cross-distro/cross-desktop app store efforts and do we > need to start working on our own now, or will Bodega fill that need > for us? > > Cheers! > > John. > > [1] http://people.freedesktop.org/~hughsient/appdata/ > [2] http://blogs.gnome.org/hughsie/ > [3] https://wiki.gnome.org/GnomeGoals/AppDataGnomeSoftware > [4] https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/r/113531/